Beauty and Christ
The Story Behind How Great Thou Art
How Great Thou Art began as a Swedish poem, O Store Gud, written by Carl Boberg in 1885 after he was caught in a sudden storm and then a great calm. It travelled through Germany and Russia, and the English version most people know was translated and expanded by the British missionary Stuart K. Hine in 1949. It became famous worldwide through the Billy Graham crusades of the 1950s.
The true story
In 1885 a young Swedish preacher named Carl Boberg was walking home when a fierce thunderstorm swept in, then passed, leaving a brilliant calm with birdsong and a rainbow. Moved by the majesty of it, he wrote a poem, O Store Gud, ‘O Great God.’ It was set to a Swedish folk melody and spread across northern Europe.
The English hymn came through Stuart K. Hine, a British missionary serving in Ukraine, who learned a Russian version, translated it, and added verses of his own drawn from what he saw of God’s creation and of Christ’s cross. His English text was finished around 1949. In the 1950s the singer George Beverly Shea and the choirs of the Billy Graham crusades carried it to millions, and it became one of the best loved hymns in the English language.
What it points to
The hymn moves in a deliberate order. First it beholds the greatness of God in creation, the stars, the thunder, the woods. Then it turns to the greater wonder: that this vast God sent his own Son to die. Creation makes the soul sing how great God is; the cross tells the soul why.
That is the arc of the whole faith in a single song: from the glory of the Maker to the love of the Saviour. No wonder people cannot help but sing it.
Come and see
Beauty is a door, never a trick. The cathedrals, the hymns, and the long roads of pilgrimage were all made by people who had first found something, or Someone, worth the labour of a lifetime. If the beauty draws you, follow it to its source. The living Christ it points toward is not an argument to win but a Person to meet, and he still draws near to everyone who comes to him with an open heart. The Gospel of John is a gentle place to begin.
Meet JesusRead the Gospel of JohnThe Church around the worldJesus Christ is Lord.
Frequently asked questions
- Who wrote How Great Thou Art?
- The original poem, O Store Gud, was written by the Swedish preacher Carl Boberg in 1885. The English hymn most people know was translated and expanded by the British missionary Stuart K. Hine around 1949.
- What is the story behind How Great Thou Art?
- Boberg wrote it after a storm gave way to a great calm, awed by God's majesty in creation. Stuart Hine later translated and added to it as a missionary, and it became world-famous through George Beverly Shea and the Billy Graham crusades in the 1950s.
- What is How Great Thou Art about?
- The hymn moves from beholding God's greatness in creation, the stars, thunder, and woods, to the greater wonder of the cross, where God sent his Son to die. It joins the glory of the Maker to the love of the Saviour.